"Infamy my rotten ass!" Virala cursed in response, "I was terrified when the Boar King chased after me. Fuck did I do to you, man? You blamed every shit you caused on me!"
"You broke my knee at the very beginning." Inala stared away while giving Virala the side-eye glare, "If you had forgotten it, I would be glad to help jog up your memory."
"Both of them aren't even on the same level!" Virala grumbled, "I was this close to losing everything I had accumulated because of you. Fuck! And if you had planned something like that, you could have at least given me a heads-up so that I could have been mentally prepared about it."
His body trembled as he shouted, "Even now, I have nightmares of being chased after by the Boar King, chasing a Mammoth Clan me without any Nature Weapons!"
"That's why I'm giving you a heads-up this time." Inala spoke and pointed towards the ocean, "Also, I'll say this as many times as necessary, Virala."
His eyes turned cold, "I wasn't inviting you."
"This…fucker…!" Veins popped all across his forehead as Virala glared in rage.
"You have been talking to me as if I was Orakha. I don't care if you see each other as friends, but I don't see either of you that way." The air around him trembled as the Royal Zinger's uninhibited presence billowed out like a raging volcano, "Your only use for me is the fact that you see Brangara as an enemy."
"The day you lose your worth, I'll eliminate you to reduce risks."
'What…the fuck is this?' Virala trembled at the seething presence of the Royal Zinger, feeling as if he was aging thousands of times faster even though not a single second's worth of his lifespan had been stolen. 'Is this the Royal Zinger's true power? It's frightening!'
Instinctively, he changed into Brangara, strengthening his human body to the limit with psychokinesis as Tratham covered his body to form armour. A tail jutted at the back, sporting a blade, ready to act as a mid-ranged limb to attack.
However, a moment later, he became still as a stone, his face pale with fear, looking outside the Biome Bomb to stare at a million Phells closely packed together, staring his way, on the verge of exploding.
The sight was terrifying, especially since he couldn't even see much water as the Phells were stacked upon each other. Only then did he feel that the Biome Bomb he was within was gradually changing its presence, from a Tribesman to gradually into that of a Clansman.
It was currently in a transition phase, which was why it only lured the Phells here but hadn't turned them aggressive yet. But once the transition completes, they'll explode instantaneously, the consequences of which would be disastrous even for him.
And if he were to transform into the Empyrean Boar King, he'd only be painting a bigger target upon himself, allowing for more spores of Phells to latch onto his skin.
"Did you think I built my base here for no reason?" Inala's calm, somewhat maniacal voice resounded, "Even if Brangara comes here, I'll welcome him with a bombardment from a billion Phells first before facing him head-on."
His gaze landed on Virala, calm, but ready to destroy the latter with absolute power when necessary. Moreover, swarm tactics would only empower the Royal Zinger, as it could absorb Prana and Lifeforce from its targets.
Virala could recover Prana at a rapid pace too by consuming the Phells. However, his speed paled in comparison to Inala. Moreover, the latter could steal Prana from him too, something Virala couldn't do.
He needed less than a second's worth of time before realising that he couldn't do anything against Inala in this situation, "Fuck!"
He retracted his presence, vexed by the hand he had been dealt with, and stared at Inala in defeat, "Do whatever you want."
"Grow some balls of courage," Inala retracted his presence and commented, "Why are you so apprehensive of facing Brangara anyway? Didn't you confidently do so before?"
"That's because Brangara didn't know about my build back then. So I had the advantage in terms of information." Virala sighed in defeat, unable to do anything even though Inala's words triggered him, "But that's no longer the case now. He'll be better equipped to fight me this time."
"Who said we're fighting him?" Inala stared at him like he was an idiot, "Did you become dumber after growing strong?"
"The Spirit Stage version of you at the Mammoth Clan had better brain cells."
"…Hah," Virala exhaled a long breath and calmed himself, realising that he had been completely swept by Inala's pace, having been passively reacting to the latter's words and actions for some time now.
With a calmer mind, he stared at Inala, "We're not fighting him? What exactly do you have in mind then?"
"Plans don't work if you reveal them to weasels. That's fifth-grade common sense on Earth." Inala began to walk through the path leading from the Biome Bomb to the floating platform on the ocean surface, beckoning for Virala to follow him.
"What kind of bullshit Earth did you come from…?" Virala muttered under his breath as he followed Inala, quickly masking his expression to remain aloof and dignified as he casually waved to the Mystic Humans who had greeted him.
The Biome Bombs remained opaque, preventing the Mystic Humans from seeing outside. So, none of them knew about the existence of a million Phells right outside. Inala only showed it to Virala by making the respective Biome Bomb transparent.
Inala was silent throughout the journey, eyeing Virala's actions from the side, commenting once they were climbing the long flight of stairs, far away from everyone else, "Why do you portray yourself as someone you aren't?"
"You're the farthest from an enigmatic leader filled with grace and benevolence."
"Get off my back, will you?" Virala's eyelids twitched, "Let me just do my thing in peace. My Mystic Humans are strong, I'll have you know."
"But they'll become stale at this rate." Inala commented casually, "Since they're not facing any enemies that can threaten their lives. So, they'll never innovate and constantly strive to better themselves, since they lack desperation."
"The both of us are the best example." Inala expressed his analysis, "You gained Weaponisation and even elevated it to the Mystic Grade, all while you were weak. Similarly, I paved the way to the Mystic Grade and became a Royal Zinger. Both are tremendous achievements, but,"
He made eye contact with Virala, "What exactly have we achieved after that?"
"At the Dralh Sea…" Virala began to speak, only to be cut off by Inala.
"The Mystic Humans at the Dralh Sea are merely products brought by a power you already had." Inala snorted, "You had Internal Astral Cultivator. Even after surviving against Brandal Brimgan, you could have taken your time to elevate other Nature Weapons to the Mystic Grade. But you selected the Mystic Ewworm, since you were confident of taking advantage of its tool condensation capabilities."
"You already had thought of everything related to the eventual creation of the Mystic Humans at the Dralh Sea by that point, before you became a Mystic Human." Inala stared at Virala, "Am I right?"
Seeing Virala nod in realisation, Inala asked, "So, I'm asking again."
"What have you innovated after becoming a Mystic Human?"
"Nothing…" Virala was downcast, having never thought of things this way.
"It's because you lost your hunger." Inala said, "You were no longer desperate for strength. The fact that you care about your reputation, dignity, and everything else is enough proof of that. Back in the day, you only cared about the ways you could attain power, without a moral compass."
"Remember Sumatra Chronicles?" Inala asked with a soft voice, continuing upon seeing Virala nod, "We've all been there in the comment section, claiming how we would have done things differently."
"But now that we have grown strong, we've lost that desperate touch." Inala said, "If you were to pit your current character against your old self at the First Minor Crisis, what do you think the outcome would be?"
"I…" Virala didn't want to say it out loud, but he could easily picture the truth. If he were to face his old self at the First Minor Crisis, he would be killed in a matter of minutes. Back then, when they were affected by the Fragment Disease that caused their bodies to creak at the slightest exertion, survival was their strongest thought, thumping every second of their being.
Every second, they used everything at their disposal to survive, think about survival, plan and scheme to survive better in the future.
What about now? Virala could take a seat out in the wilds defencelessly and wouldn't suffer any danger to his life. If he were to assume his complete transformation, even Gold Grade Pranic Beasts would be struggling to scratch his body, not to mention truly harm him.
Even a single body of his was tremendously powerful, so much so that it needed a horde of Gold Grade Pranic Beasts to threaten his life. Even in a blessed region like the Brimgan Empire, there were officially only 300 Gold Grade Pranic Beasts, all from different races.
To make matters worse, Virala was at the 2-Life Stage. That meant the sense of danger he felt from Sumatra's wilds was even lower. The only existence he truly felt threatened by was the Celestial Boar.
Sumatra Continent itself wasn't as dangerous anymore. As a result, he lost fear, no longer desperate for survival.
"Didn't we think about the question many times upon arriving here?" Inala continued, "Even when filled with hatred, why did the Boar King remain at the 3-Life Stage for two millennia and only progress through the Life Stage after seeing the Major Treasure of Attribute?"
"Each time he attacked the Mammoth Clan led by Raaha, had he been at the 5-Life Stage, he could have killed them all. But he never progressed beyond the 3-Life Stage." Inala said, noticing Virala remain dead silent, "You're getting my point now?"
"He was filled with hatred and there were risks associated with fighting so many Empyrean Tusks at the same time, but he never felt that his life was threatened by them." Virala's eyes widened in realisation as he continued to speak his thoughts, "His power at the 3-Life Stage was enough to slowly, but surely annihilate the Empyrean Tusks."
"Yes, and that's why he never realised his true potential, since he never had the need to." Inala nodded, "The Boar King was simply too strong to be desperate for survival."
"And after our evolution, we've become the same." Inala sighed, staring at his hands as he clenched them hard, "The current me is smart, way beyond anything my Mammoth Clan self could have imagined. But, I'm barely using a portion of my true capabilities in terms of innovation, even when pressured by the Celestial Boar. Whatever I'm doing now are simply ideas I have crafted as a Mammoth Clansman."
"I'm…simply too strong. The current me cannot be threatened by anyone other than the Celestial Boar. And even against the Celestial Boar, I can jump into the air and glide to safety." He stared at Virala and concluded, "That's our current issue."
"So, this time, we'll be thinking of targeting Brangara without our powers, purely using our brains."
"You mean…?" Virala's eyes widened in shock as he stared at Inala in disbelief, "Are you suggesting we infiltrate the Wean Clan after sealing our Spirit Containers or something?"
"Yes," Inala was dead serious, "That's exactly what we'll be doing."
"We're the most dangerous when batshit weak!"